Huddler Redesign 2: Electric Boogaloo!

This thread is for comments about the second desktop version of AppleInsider since the move to Huddler. This design was pushed out November 2, 2012. The thread about the previous redesign has been locked to prevent confusion.

Please direct all comments, good or bad, and all bugs and improvement suggestions here. All posts regarding this redesign posted in other threads will be moved here as well, so that the Huddler team has a single location from which to draw feedback.

Ok, so I love the look of the new forum, but the font is still super tiny to read on an iPhone 4. Can we make it a little bigger?

In regards to the article.... In the paramedic field, we have started using tablets to do our reports. Only downside is, they aren't iPads. We need iPads with an otter box so they don't get destroyed, and then I'll be very happy!

It's too white for my taste. If the page background was #C2C2C2 or even with a hint of a color (#A3A7B5), I'd like that better, as I think it would be more readable.

I like the primary font change, it's just a little big at times, and the kerning is a little tight on our usernames. But I'm on a 27" monitor, so what do I know.

The resizing on page width seems to work better, which is good. On the "New Posts" listing, threads that you have posted in are now longer a different color, which makes them harder to spot. Formatting replies still seems clumsy, unless I just haven't worked it out how to do it. Specifically, if you reply by quoting a post and want to address points individually, there seems to be no way to split up the quote div without working in the source html. It would be nice to be able to see, split, remove and add nested divs.

Originally Posted by muppetry
Specifically, if you reply by quoting a post and want to address points individually, there seems to be no way to split up the quote div without working in the source html. It would be nice to be able to see, split, remove and add nested divs.

Oh, I've always done this, and it has always been possible without messing with the source. Just the doing of it is a little clunky, thanks to the extra, hidden whitespace (that does not appear until the post is committed, forcing you to then go back in and edit immediately) around every quote box. I'd love for that to be removed.

AH, but I'm remembering now that occasionally the area below quotes is—you're absolutely correct—unselectable in any form unless you go to the source.

Originally Posted by muppetry
Specifically, if you reply by quoting a post and want to address points individually, there seems to be no way to split up the quote div without working in the source html. It would be nice to be able to see, split, remove and add nested divs.

Oh, I've always done this, and it has always been possible without messing with the source. Just the doing of it is a little clunky, thanks to the extra, hidden whitespace (that does not appear until the post is committed, forcing you to then go back in and edit immediately) around every quote box. I'd love for that to be removed.

AH, but I'm remembering now that occasionally the area below quotes is—you're absolutely correct—unselectable in any form unless you go to the source.

It's not that it's unselectable - but for example in your post quoted above here - if I had wanted to split it and respond to your first paragraph, then have another quote box with your second paragraph, I cannot see a way to split the quote div except in the source.

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
AH, but I'm remembering now that occasionally the area below quotes is—you're absolutely correct—unselectable in any form unless you go to the source.

I'm not sure if you are describing the problem that you can't drop the cursor below the quoted text after you delete some of the quoted text, or not, but whenever that happens you can drop the cursor above the quoted text and then that action, for some reason, frees up the area below the quoted text and you can type normally without having to enter the source code.

Originally Posted by muppetry
It's not that it's unelectable - but for example in your post quoted above here - if I had wanted to split it and respond to your first paragraph…

Oh, here's what I do. I select everything after what I want in the first box…

…cut it, and then I put my cursor at the end of my reply for that box, hit Quote, and paste into the new box. Placing the cursor at the end of my reply (instead of two lines down where I want the quote box to actually be, which is more intuitive) uses the user-hidden whitespace against itself. Same with images.

…then have another quote box with your second paragraph, I cannot see a way to split the quote div except in the source.

That circumvents the need to go into the source.

Originally Posted by mstone
I'm not sure if you are describing the problem that you can't drop the cursor below the quoted text after you delete some of the quoted text, or not, but whenever that happens you can drop the cursor above the quoted text and then that action frees up the area below the quoted text and you can type normally without having to enter the source code.

Oh, yes, and that does work occasionally. It's just that we shouldn't have to do it at all.

Originally Posted by muppetry
It's not that it's unelectable - but for example in your post quoted above here - if I had wanted to split it and respond to your first paragraph…

Oh, here's what I do. I select everything after what I want in the first box…

…cut it, and then I put my cursor at the end of my reply for that box, hit Quote, and paste into the new box. Placing the cursor at the end of my reply (instead of two lines down where I want the quote box to actually be, which is more intuitive) uses the user-hidden whitespace against itself. Same with images.

…then have another quote box with your second paragraph, I cannot see a way to split the quote div except in the source.

That circumvents the need to go into the source.

That is strange - when you did that the resulting code was clean (at least by Huddler standards). When I try that I get multiple garbage span tags defining fonts, colors, borders and other stuff, which is why I had stopped doing that and was working in the source code instead.

This redesign makes puppies cry and causes me to hurt kittens. Too white, the fonts are too big and several elements are all out of proportion. I don't have much hope because the front page for the site is so wasteful and massive in terms of elements that it must have been designed by someone who is legally blind. My neighbor enjoys being able to read the articles from my MacBook from his own living room though since he can see the site and read it clearly all the way from across the street.

This redesign makes puppies cry and causes me to hurt kittens. Too white, the fonts are too big and several elements are all out of proportion. I don't have much hope because the front page for the site is so wasteful and massive in terms of elements that it must have been designed by someone who is legally blind. My neighbor enjoys being able to read the articles from my MacBook from his own living room though since he can see the site and read it clearly all the way from across the street.

I have a really nice script that basically turns the home page into an RSS feed but instead of linking to the ugly article it goes directly to the forumn. Let me know if you want to give it a try.

This redesign makes puppies cry and causes me to hurt kittens. Too white, the fonts are too big and several elements are all out of proportion. I don't have much hope because the front page for the site is so wasteful and massive in terms of elements that it must have been designed by someone who is legally blind. My neighbor enjoys being able to read the articles from my MacBook from his own living room though since he can see the site and read it clearly all the way from across the street.

I have a really nice script that basically turns the home page into an RSS feed but instead of linking to the ugly article it goes directly to the forumn. Let me know if you want to give it a try.

I have a version of your script (I think) that works well on the home page, but it doesn't link to the forums. Did you update it?

This redesign makes puppies cry and causes me to hurt kittens. Too white, the fonts are too big and several elements are all out of proportion. I don't have much hope because the front page for the site is so wasteful and massive in terms of elements that it must have been designed by someone who is legally blind. My neighbor enjoys being able to read the articles from my MacBook from his own living room though since he can see the site and read it clearly all the way from across the street.

I have a really nice script that basically turns the home page into an RSS feed but instead of linking to the ugly article it goes directly to the forumn. Let me know if you want to give it a try.

I have a version of your script (I think) that works well on the home page, but it doesn't link to the forums. Did you update it?

I have recently updated I thought it always linked to the forums. I'll post in a second I have to switch browsers.

This redesign makes puppies cry and causes me to hurt kittens. Too white, the fonts are too big and several elements are all out of proportion. I don't have much hope because the front page for the site is so wasteful and massive in terms of elements that it must have been designed by someone who is legally blind. My neighbor enjoys being able to read the articles from my MacBook from his own living room though since he can see the site and read it clearly all the way from across the street.

I have a really nice script that basically turns the home page into an RSS feed but instead of linking to the ugly article it goes directly to the forumn. Let me know if you want to give it a try.

I have a version of your script (I think) that works well on the home page, but it doesn't link to the forums. Did you update it?

I have recently updated I thought it always linked to the forums. I'll post in a second I have to switch browsers.

OK - the comments link goes to the forum - is that what you meant? I meant that the article title link goes to the main article page. Nice reformatting anyway - thanks.

This redesign makes puppies cry and causes me to hurt kittens. Too white, the fonts are too big and several elements are all out of proportion. I don't have much hope because the front page for the site is so wasteful and massive in terms of elements that it must have been designed by someone who is legally blind. My neighbor enjoys being able to read the articles from my MacBook from his own living room though since he can see the site and read it clearly all the way from across the street.

I have a really nice script that basically turns the home page into an RSS feed but instead of linking to the ugly article it goes directly to the forumn. Let me know if you want to give it a try.

I have a version of your script (I think) that works well on the home page, but it doesn't link to the forums. Did you update it?

I have recently updated I thought it always linked to the forums. I'll post in a second I have to switch browsers.

OK - the comments link goes to the forum - is that what you meant? I meant that the article title link goes to the main article page. Nice reformatting anyway - thanks.

If you drop it intoTextmate you can make an optimized scriptlet which runs faster (see figure below). I obfuscated the earlier version but it is really a pretty simple script. Seek and destroy!

1. All forum threads are from AI's 'Kasper's Automated Slave' which should read the authors' name. With some articles you just know who wrote it, but not always

2. Special characters become ? in threads. That can't be difficult to fix I presume (?)

3. Increase font size could do with a maximum, but I seriously don't know of anyone actually using this feature (on any site)

4. Top of homepage has way too much white space. I'd adjust the layout of the toolbar, perhaps by moving the stock ticker and search field up so the menubar can move right and up.

5. View comments button keeps you on the main article page, View all gets you to the forum. Choose one button; less (options) = more

6. An article page (http://appleinsider.com/articles/yy/mm/dd/*) gives the first 10 comments (with a useless 'Previous Comments' header to the left). I think the design ought to be the last xx posts, with the 'Previous Comments' label becoming a button.

Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
1. All forum threads are from AI's 'Kasper's Automated Slave' which should read the authors' name. With some articles you just know who wrote it, but not always

That's probably not a good idea to change, since the AppleInsider account is just a bot, automatically posting. What they could do is append each story with the author's name.

2. Special characters become ? in threads. That can't be difficult to fix I presume (?)

Right, that's just it misreading an extended set of characters.

3. Increase font size could do with a maximum, but I seriously don't know of anyone actually using this feature (on any site)

They can fix that by removing the hardcoded line spacing and letting the font handle it.

5. View comments button keeps you on the main article page, View all gets you to the forum. Choose one button; less (options) = more

Normally I'd disagree, but since front-page comment posting is so terrible I'd actually be in favor of not seeing them at all, at least until a more advanced posting box is brought up there (but really I'd prefer commenting done directly on the forum; less work getting two pages to sync up, less confusing for users).

That's probably not a good idea to change, since the AppleInsider account is just a bot, automatically posting. What they could do is append each story with the author's name.

That'll work as well!

Quote:

Right, that's just it misreading an extended set of characters.

But can it be fixed please? It's just 'a poor reading experience'

Quote:

They can fix that by removing the hardcoded line spacing and letting the font handle it.

I presume the site will continue to be updated over and over again, so I also presume one day I'll get to see this..

Quote:

Normally I'd disagree, but since front-page comment posting is so terrible I'd actually be in favor of not seeing them at all, at least until a more advanced posting box is brought up there (but really I'd prefer commenting done directly on the forum; less work getting two pages to sync up, less confusing for users).

Fully agree. And even though it's merely plain text, indeed, remove the comments from the homepage.

At least there's no button to hide the comments... at the bottom of the page, which is what I say earlier today. True thing.

- - - - - - -

Thanks for the response; the effort you put into this site is truly admirable.

Have you guys noticed the Vox media sites (The Verge, Polygon)? It is like websites are finally rediscovering their Magazine origins. Big glorious photos and plenty of them, the first letter of the article big and capitalised, choice quotes dotted amongst the text, e.g.

Originally Posted by ascii
Have you guys noticed the Vox media sites (The Verge, Polygon)? It is like websites are finally rediscovering their Magazine origins. Big glorious photos and plenty of them, the first letter of the article big and capitalised, choice quotes dotted amongst the text, e.g.

I rather like that. Putting actual work into the website page designs. Hope it does.

I had an interesting dream last night: I was posting on this site, and Huddler was broken. Some tag would get injected and half of the post would be filled with garbage, like when you quote a reply from Apple ][. I found the idea amusing: "Huddler is broken...again."